I have the face of a great demon.

The second step of the Heart Sutra without flowers is to guide the Qi into the body.

After circulating the Wuhua Sect's cultivation technique, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth continuously flowed into Liu Xingchen's body.

Compared to the Azure Sky Heart Sutra he had previously learned, it was worlds apart.

If the Azure Sky Heart Sutra is a trickle, then the Bland Heart Sutra is like a surging river; the difference between the two is incomparable.

After embarking on the path of cultivation, Liu Xingchen finally understood why cultivators always looked down on martial artists.

The martial arts techniques practiced by the martial artist were so incomplete that they were not even as good as the Yellow Rank, which was simply utterly worthless.

At the Azure Sky Sect, the mental techniques he learned were merely superficial, only instructing him to draw spiritual energy from heaven and earth into his body and store it in his dantian.

However, what they don't know is that the dantian is actually divided into the upper dantian, middle dantian, and lower dantian, which correspond to the brain, chest, and below the navel, respectively.

The dantian mentioned in the Azure Sky Heart Sutra is merely the most inconspicuous lower dantian.

However, the trickle of a martial artist's inner cultivation is so small that even the lower dantian cannot be filled in a lifetime.

The path to immortality requires first filling the lower dantian, then the middle dantian, and so on until the upper dantian is also filled, at which point one can attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.

Once the foundation is successfully established, one becomes a true immortal.

Hua Laodao had only heard Tie Zhu mention that Liu Xingchen was a rare genius, but after seeing him today, he truly realized that this young man's talent was more than just genius; he was practically a prodigy.

Liu Xingchen began to circulate his cultivation technique, and the surrounding spiritual energy surged in, forming a mighty river that poured into his body.

Even Master Hua himself admitted that his power to draw in qi was inferior to this.

If he hadn't sensed that Liu Xingchen's lower dantian was still relatively shallow, he would have thought Liu Xingchen was an old monster in the Foundation Establishment stage.

Hua Wufeng happily drank a few mouthfuls of wine from the gourd, grinning from ear to ear.

"We've struck gold! This disciple is an absolute prodigy in cultivation. At this rate, he'll be able to establish his foundation in just a few years. Even the geniuses of the ten great immortal sects are no better than him."

Liu Xingchen had only just begun his studies and naturally did not possess such abilities; all of this was actually thanks to the spirit ghost.

A spirit ghost at the Golden Core stage can absorb spiritual energy at an astonishing speed, so helping Liu Xingchen speed up his absorption a little is a piece of cake.

If it weren't for Liu Xingchen's current cultivation level, he could have filled Liu Xingchen's dantian completely in one go.

This is why spirit pets like ghosts are so sought after by countless cultivators; they are practically cheat codes in the cultivation world.

In order to help Liu Xingchen improve his cultivation level as soon as possible and communicate with him, the spirit ghost went to great lengths.

They desperately poured spiritual energy into Liu Xingchen.

As long as you don't drown, keep feeding them until they die.

The speed at which his cultivation improved was naturally heaven-defying; even Old Master Hua was dumbfounded.

Looking at this disciple and then at Tie Zhu, he seems quite ordinary, his speed of absorbing spiritual energy is just average.

This made Hua Laodao a little regretful, but also relieved.

If both of his disciples were prodigies, he would be consumed by jealousy.

A month later, Liu Xingchen's cultivation level improved rapidly, and he entered the second level of Qi Refining.

Such a speed of cultivation left Hua Laodao speechless; it had taken him a full ten years to achieve this goal.

At that time, he had not yet obtained a Xuan-level cultivation technique; he was only practicing a Huang-level technique circulating among rogue cultivators, so the effect was naturally not good.

In addition, unlike those disciples of sects who live in celestial mountains and treasure lands rich in spiritual energy, his cultivation speed is even slower.

Compared to this, Liu Xingchen's speed is simply outrageously fast.

Hua Laodao really couldn't understand why someone's cultivation talent could be so strong.

Looking at his other apprentice, Zhao Tiezhu, he was even stranger.

Tie Zhu's cultivation aptitude should be above average, and he has also cultivated a Xuan-level technique, making him much better than he was back then.

He has absorbed a lot of spiritual energy over the past month, but why is there not much spiritual power stored in his lower dantian?

Old Master Hua tried to calculate with his fingers again and again, but no matter how he calculated, it was wrong.

Of all the spiritual energy absorbed, less than 30% is stored in the dantian. Where did the rest go?

Vanished into thin air?

Completely baffled, Hua Laodao asked, "Tiezhu, you've been cultivating for a month. Have you noticed any differences?"

Tie Zhu scratched his head: "It doesn't seem any different. Oh, right, my appetite is bigger than before."

Hua Laodao: "..."

He absolutely did not believe that absorbing spiritual energy could increase a person's appetite. Cultivating immortality increased one's cultivation level, not made one a big-bellied man.

Knowing Tie Zhu well, Liu Xingchen's heart stirred, and he asked, "Tie Zhu, has your strength changed?"

Tie Zhu thought for a moment, then tried to lift the stone mill in the Taoist temple, and finally said with surprise, "Hey, it really works. I'm a little stronger now."

Does the Heart Sutra without flowers not increase cultivation but instead increase strength?

Hua Laodao was dumbfounded. With his limited knowledge, he couldn't understand why this was happening.

Well, we can only let nature take its course and see how things develop.

After letting things take their course for a few days, he realized the consequences of Tie Zhu's cultivation of the Wu Hua Heart Sutra.

They ran out of rice.

This isn't a big problem; if there's no rice, we can just go down the mountain to buy some.

Anyway, Tiezhu is strong, and carrying 500 jin of rice up the mountain at once is no problem for him.

But what's worse is that they ran out of money before long.

Liu Xingchen originally had some money, which he had taken from Sikong Chen. Seeing that the Taoist temple was too dilapidated, he took it out to repair the temple.

I'm really broke right now.

This scene made Hua Laodao smile wryly.

"I never expected that I, a cultivator, would be eaten out of house and home by a disciple."

Tie Zhu looked ashamed.

"Master, it's all my fault for eating too much. I ate all of your money."

"But Master, don't worry, I can go to work and earn money. I can go to the rice shop in town to carry rice, and I'm sure I can earn back the money for the rice."

"Hahaha, no need. Although I, Hua Wufeng, am a poor rogue cultivator, I am not so poor that I cannot even support a disciple."

"Come, today I will teach you some more skills so that you will know how easy it is for us cultivators to earn some gold and silver."

After saying that, Hua Wufeng led Liu Xingchen and the other person out of the Taoist temple.

Their goal was the towering peak.

This mountain is not only high, but also steep, with many places almost inaccessible by road.

But this didn't deter them.

The three of them used their unique skills to move along the almost vertical mountain wall.

Hua Wufeng used his ability to shrink the earth to an inch, allowing him to walk several meters high on a steep mountain peak in a single step.

His toes touched the protrusions of the rock face, supporting his entire body weight and maintaining his balance with effortless grace.

Although Liu Xingchen didn't have that skill, his lightness skill was not bad either.

With a light touch on a protrusion on the rock face, he leaps two or three zhang high, then lands on another protrusion, continuously climbing upwards with fluid and elegant movements.

The iron pillar method, on the other hand, is more direct and primitive.

Relying on his own strength, he gripped the mountain wall tightly with his iron hands, using both hands and feet to climb the mountain like an agile monkey.

When he encountered a smooth rock face with nowhere to grab onto, he wasn't afraid. He simply inserted his fingers into the rock face and dug out five holes to use as handholds, allowing him to climb steadily upwards.

And so, the three of them, one after the other, climbed to the summit.

After reaching the summit, descend less than two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) down the other side of the mountain, and you will arrive at a protruding platform on the mountainside.